The Confusion
by CeliaLauna
Summary: Ryan's been happy. He had been together with Chad for two weeks and so far, it's been going great. Except for one detail. No one had yet to react to the fact that the two of them had started dating. Were their friends that oblivious or was Chad keeping this a secret on purpose? Is he ashamed? Or was there a more logical explanation? - part three in the Let's Call It Family 'verse.


**Summary: Ryan's been happy. He had been together with Chad for two weeks and so far, it's been going great. Except for one detail. No one had yet to react to the fact that the two of them had started dating. Were their friends that oblivious or was Chad keeping this a secret on purpose? Is he ashamed? Or was there a more logical explanation?**

 **Author's note: This is a continuation from "The Revelation" and "The Realisation" and all three stories are part of my "Let's Call It Family" verse.** **I don't own any of the characters or the universe. I just wrote some words. I don't even own what could be seen as OCs, I took the Moms and twins from The Fosters. The sister Jaime is an original character however.**

 **I hope you like it!**

* * *

The Confusion

Chad and Ryan had been dating for almost two weeks, and Ryan couldn't be happier about it, truly. Chad was funny and attentive and just sweet enough. They'd gone out a few times – just to the mall or out on walks or drives, but still, it's been great. There was just one tiny problem.

All throughout these past two weeks at school, none of their friends had seemed to notice that they'd started dating.

Okay, maybe it wasn't that weird. After all, he and Chad had gotten fairly close before, and it's not like they acted particularly couple-y around the school. But still, Chad had made a big deal about proving he's not homophobic, he'd said out loud that he's not straight, so there shouldn't be an issue.

Yet no one seemed to realise they were together. And it struck Ryan as odd, since he thought people would be bouncing of the walls with glee. After all, both Troy and Jaime had apparently talked to Chad before about getting his head out of his ass. People should be reacting.

But no one had so far. And. Okay, so maybe Ryan hadn't told his sister yet out of spite, since she'd had waited for over a month before informing him that, " _Oh, yeah, Zeke and I are official by the way, thought you should know,"_ and she only told him because she wanted his opinion what would be the best way to announce it on her Facebook profile fan page. And he hadn't told Kelsi yet because, even though he wanted to, they always kept drifting off, talking about the play.

Still. At the very least, Troy and Jaime, Chad's best friend and his step-sister, should be reacting.

So when Chad asked, right before lunch on a Thursday, privately, if they could go out the next day, and he could choose, Ryan agreed, deciding then and there to talk to Chad about that the next day.

So now Ryan was sitting at a café, stirring his straw in his freshly pressed juice, thinking how to bring this up.

"Hey," Chad broke the silence. "What's on your mind?"

"How come you haven't told your friends about us yet?" Ryan blurted out, and hey, bringing up that touchy subject all of a sudden went a lot faster.

Chad was taken aback by his question. "What do you mean?"

"Your friends," Ryan repeated again, more slowly, trying to get his nerves down. "Why didn't you tell them yet that we got together? I mean, you said before that Troy and Jaime talked to you. And." Ryan broke off his sentence, afraid to voice his fears.

"Oh," Chad said. "Jaime knew as soon as I got home on Saturday. And I haven't told Troy yet because the bastard took like, two weeks until he told me Gabriella and him had kissed, which took like, until the fifth date after the big scheme to get them to call-backs last year," Chad explained. "I just wanted to make him suffer a bit longer, you know, payback."

"Oh," Ryan uttered. He didn't really know what to respond to that, it all seemed logical. And after all, it's a similar to why he hasn't told Sharpay yet.

"I can text him now if you find it that important?" Chad offered, extending his hand over the table to hold Ryan's. Ryan looked at it, then back up at Chad.

"So you're not ashamed to be seen with me?" Ryan asked.

"What? No!" Chad shot out of his chair, extending both arms to grab a hold of Ryan's hand, nearly spilling his own juice in the progress. "Why would you think that?"

"Because," Ryan shrugged, ashamed all of a sudden, looking at their hands. "You hadn't told anyone, and. I don't know."

"No, Ryan, that's totally not what this is." Chad leaned back in the high barstool chair, running one hand frustrated through his hair. "I didn't tell Troy out of revenge, and I don't know, I figured you might wanted to tell everyone else? Or tell them together?" He sighed. "I guess we should've talked about this before, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess," Ryan agreed. He looked up at Chad, who was absently staring at the wall behind Ryan. He softly kicked his shin under the table. "Hey. We can talk now?"

Chad focused his eyes on Ryan and smiled. "Of course. So. How and when will we tell people?"

"I don't know," Ryan admitted. "I mean, I didn't even tell Sharpay yet, but –"

" _What?!"_

"but that is beside the point." Ryan ignored the interruption. "We could just tell them at lunch? I just. I don't know." Chad's eyes were sparkling, silently laughing at Ryan's uncertainty. "What?!" Ryan challenged him. "It's not like I ever had to come out before, and I've never had a boyfriend, so how about you shut up and help."

"I didn't say anything." But Chad was smiling, leaning with his elbows on the table. "We'll just see how the conversation goes? Or just make out in front of the school before classes start?"

Ryan glared at Chad's grin. "That's tacky."

Chad shrugged. "I'm not big on the, you know…" he trailed off but Ryan knew what he meant.

"The big theatrical unspontaneous coming out scene?" Chad nodded. "Yeah, I figured. It basically stands for all things you dislike about musicals."

"That's not true!" Chad protested. "I just think it should be spontaneous."

"And how are you going to fix that?" Ryan mocked him lightly.

"Give me one week," Chad pleaded. "One week, and if I haven't come out by then, if people still don't know we're a couple, then we'll do it your way. Deal?"

Chad wriggled his hand loose and extended it for an official handshake. Ryan took his hand and shook it. "Deal. But you definitely need to tell Troy."

"And you should tell Sharpay," Chad shot back.

Ryan smiled sheepishly. "Fair enough," he said as he took a sip of his juice. He seriously was interested in how Chad was planning on coming out, but he was patient enough to watch this show play out for a week. For Chad, he could be that patient.

***  
That evening, as he was texting with Chad, he figured he should tell Sharpay. He just didn't know how yet.

Ryan's phone pinged, a new message from Chad appearing. _By the way, I told Troy. Demands we go on a double date. Can I strangle him?_

Ryan laughed at that, sending off his reply. _Sure, as long as you find someone else to lift the body. I'll help you hide it, but I'm not touching it._

Ryan closed his eyes, leaning back in the sofa. He really should tell his sister. But as Sharpay ran into the house, saying she needed alone time and could she just be left alone for the rest of the night, storming of the her bedroom, Ryan figured he could wait a few days.

Next Tuesday at school, when Ryan joined the group at lunch – he had spent Monday at the Drama Club table – when Chad spotted him, he immediately took his backpack off the seat next to him, freeing up a place to sit for his boyfriend.

"Hey," Chad said cheerfully as Ryan sat down next to him with his tray. "Anything eventful happen these past few hours?"

Ryan took a bite of pasta and chewed it carefully, pretending to think the question over. "Not really," he said after he'd swallowed. "I mean, Mrs. Jackson had the biggest chalk stain on her skirt imaginable, it was horrifying just to look at it, but that's pretty much it."

Chad laughed softly, pressing his leg alongside Ryan's. "So still better than me," he replied.

Ryan frowned. "What happened?"

"Chad was an idiot," Zeke replied before Chad even could. "He got into a fight with the history substitute teacher."

"I'm not an idiot, he was," Chad replied, somewhat bitter, and started picking again at his food.

"Aww, I'm sorry," Ryan replied has he rubbed Chad's back before turning his attention back to Zeke. "So what happened?" Ryan asked eagerly, earning him an elbow in his side from Chad.

"Chad picked a fight," Zeke started, his dramatic tone gaining the attention from the rest of the group, and Ryan couldn't help but think that Sharpay was rubbing off on him way too much.

"I did _not_ ," Chad replied. "If you're gonna tell the story at least do it right! Besides," he muttered. "The fool had it coming."

"So," Zeke started again, ignoring Chad's glares. "This teacher is gonna stay for a while because it's a pregnancy replacement, right? So he asked to fill in these forms, you know, name, curriculums, etc. And wanted to know what the parents did."

Ryan could feel it coming. "We got ourselves a new homophobic teacher?"

"Not quiet," Chad said, looking up. "But yeah. So he'd asked to only write on the lines, not next to it, above it, over it, I don't know man, he might have OCD or some shit. But yeah, so I'd crossed out the ' _Dad'_ line to write down _Second Mom_ , you know, and the dude just flips!"

"Seriously," Troy contributed. "He was just walking by and next thing I know the dude is yelling at the top of his lungs about how rules were meant to be followed, and how he was going to make sure everyone would be disciplined and would follow his instructions and shit."

"He hadn't even read what I'd written down yet," Chad supplied. "So when I said I was just correcting it so it would be applicable for my family, and he read what I wrote, he started bitching how only immediate family should be written down. So. Uhm." Chad became a bit less angry and a bit more embarrassed at this point. "I said that maybe next time he should just be clear and write down legal guardian one and two instead, because then I could still write the same info down and he shouldn't have to deal with people correcting his conservative, back-dated, heteronormative forms."

"The dude saw _red_ ," Troy said, eyes wide as if he still was scared of the teacher. "Literally. His face was red of anger, like he was gonna explode."

"So what happened?" Taylor asked. Ryan wasn't certain if she looked mad because one of her friends had caused a scene, or glad that someone was standing up for what is right. If he had to guess he'd say it was probably a mixture of both.

"He repeated to only write down immediate family on the designated lines. So I did," Chad replied, grinning. "But you see, there were also pronouns and stuff, and I had to write down siblings as well. So. From ' _Mom'_ I made ' _Birth Mom'_ , and I made ' _Dad'_ into ' _Adoptive Mom'_ , writing even in less space and making it worse than it was before. And I changed all the pronouns, and I wrote Jaime down as ' _Adoptive Step-sister'_ , and then I went into a long explanation how the twins are currently foster kids but my _Moms_ are in the process of seeing if they can adopt them legally, which they had asked them about several times."

"So now," Troy said. "We hope that he burns down to a crisp when he reads that paper. So maybe we'll have an hour free tomorrow."

"So basically we got an idiotic teacher who will be taunted for the rest of his stay here," Ryan summarised. "Okay, sounds legit."

Later that day, Ryan and Chad were sitting outside the school. Rehearsal was done for the day and so was practice, so they'd both stayed late, watching their friends and teammates leave, as they lingered in front of the stairs of the building.

"So," Chad said as he jumped up the higher block to sit there, his legs dangling above the stairs. "How was rehearsal?"

"Good," Ryan replied, and it truly had been. Kelsi had been able to create a fantastic opening tune, and Sharpay had only thrown two hissy fits that day, and none had been directed towards him. It had been a great rehearsal.

"Awesome," Chad replied. "Practice was good enough. The game this week will be an easy one, we've never lost against them yet, so."

"That's good," Ryan replied, carefully standing in between Chad's legs.

"Good," Chad replied teasingly. "Hey, what's on your mind?"

Ryan shook his head. "I don't know, nothing, really it's just." Chad raised his eyebrows, urging Ryan to continue talking. "Kelsi asked why I'd been so happy lately, and I didn't really know what to say."

Chad frowned at that. "How so?"

"Well, I mean," Ryan looked away, to a random spot behind Chad, avoiding his eyes. "I know you told Troy, and I still need to tell Sharpay, but. It's not like you're exactly out or anything, and I'm just not sure…"

"What? Ryan!" Chad took his head between his hands and gently pulled it so Ryan was looking at him. "Don't be silly, Ry," Chad said, and Ryan couldn't help but smile a bit it at the nickname. "Just tell them we're together."

"But-"

"No buts, Ryan. Except yours in those skinny jeans, that's the only valid butt I wanna hear about." Ryan punched Chad's arm for the stupid joke but he smiled nevertheless.

"No, seriously," Chad said. "I don't." A deep sigh, and he closed his eyes before continuing. "I don't wanna be the couple like Troy and Gabriella. I don't want the entire school looking at us to be a role-model, I don't want the entire school to meddle into our private relationship." He opened his eyes and look Ryan in the eye. "But our friends need to know. Don't you think?"

Ryan nodded.

"Besides, you _need_ to tell Sharpay, she'd kill me if she finds out second-hand."

Ryan chuckled at that, knowing it's true.

"And that is what I meant with being spontaneous, you know," Chad explained. "I don't wanna be all ' _Attention everyone, here is news about my relationship status'_ , but like. If Kelsi asks, why don't you just tell her?"

A car horn honked, and Chad spotted a police car. "I gotta go," he said, jumping off of the low wall before Ryan could react. "Stef's waiting. But. Let's talk tomorrow?"

Ryan nodded, and they parted their ways, Chad quickly giving Ryan a kiss on the cheek before running off to the car.

The next day, in homeroom, Ryan was giving Chad a pointed, meaningful look, but Chad just rolled his eyes. Homeroom and the next class went on without Chad making any attempt at coming out, and while Ryan was getting annoyed by it, he decided Chad should fix it like he promised.

Besides. They still needed to talk, and Ryan still had to tell his sister they were dating. Ugh.

Soon it was lunchtime, and Ryan decided to sit that day at the Drama Club table. Maybe, if the others were at rehearsals, or just quiet, he could talk to Sharpay. Except, when Sharpay arrived, she had no interest in listening to him whatsoever, she just started on why it was unacceptable that she was required to wear gloves in her chemistry class, because it was bad for her skin or whatnot.

Ryan spaced out before even properly listening, and looked to the table directly beneath theirs. Chad wasn't there yet. He looked around the cafeteria, and spotted his boyfriend standing on the stairs midway, seemingly looking for someone. When Chad's eyes landed on him, Ryan realised Chad was looking for him. Chad smiled, gave a nod and ran up. He ignored Sharpay's bewildered look and sat down in the seat next to Ryan.

"Hey," he said as he started picking at his lunch.

"Hey," Ryan greeted back, a bit confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Spending lunch with my boyfriend, that's what I am doing here."

" _What?!"_ Sharpay's voice was loud and shrill, the way it usually was when she didn't get her way, and Ryan cringed.

Chad looked at him bemused. "Still hadn't told her, had you?" he teased him.

"Well, you know, I hadn't found the right time yet, and since you decided to let things happen naturally, which apparently meant slowly, I figured I had some time." Ryan shot back.

Sharpay huffed. "This isn't real. I don't believe it."

"Ooh, believe it, Princess," Chad teased, and slung an arm around Ryan's shoulder.

"Subtle, Chad, real subtle," Ryan mocked him. Chad gave him a kiss on the cheek and Ryan rolled his eyes affectionately, continuing to eat his lunch. Chad did the same, though with only one hand available, the other one resting on Ryan's shoulder.

There was no one at the Drama Club table except for the couple and Sharpay, who kept glaring daggers at Chad.

"You know," Chad said conversationally. "I don't think you can actually kill me with that look, Sharpay."

Sharpay huffed, got up and ran out of the cafeteria.

"Did I do something wrong?" Chad asked concerned, staring at the spot where Sharpay had left the doors swinging. "I mean. I didn't mean to offend her. Badly."

Ryan shook his head. "Nah, she's just pissed that I didn't tell her." He looked Chad in the eyes. "This does not, however, count as coming out to your friends. They don't even realise we're up here alone."

"Eh, semantics. I'm just going to enjoy lunch with my boyfriend." Chad's smile was disarming and Ryan gave in. The cafeteria began to empty out not much later, but the two guys only had eyes for each other. They didn't realise they had to be in class soon until Troy's voice ran through the cafeteria.

"Come on Danforth, let your lover boy go so we can get to practice!"

Chad rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Bolton!"

Ryan could hear several voices downstairs, including Taylor's and Zeke's, asking what he meant with lover boy. Apparently only their friends were still in the cafeteria. Ryan supressed a deep sigh, it's like Chad had planned this.

"Dude, I don't care," Jason yelled. "I don't want Coach to get pissed at us for being late. Again."

"Then just go already!" Chad called back in response, but he rolled his eyes and got up anyways. Ryan got up with him, and took the stairs down to the door leading to the main hallway, a few feet from their friends standing around their table, gathering their stuff.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Chad leaned in, kissing Ryan full on right there in the cafeteria. It took Ryan a second but he quickly started kissing back. Ignoring all the catcalls and wolf whistles, Ryan pressed his head against Chad's shoulder, hiding in his neck, and he sighed.

"See," Chad said, smiling at their friends rooting. "It's all good." He pulled Ryan up and looked him in the eye. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Ryan replied softly. "Yeah, I'm good." His eyes sparkled.

"Okay," Chad replied, pressing another quick kiss against Ryan's lips before taking a step back from him right as the bell rang. "Race you to the gym, last one has to explain Coach why we're late!" Chad yelled as he threw open the doors and ran through the hallway. The guys cursed and started chasing after him, while the girls giggled and quickly made their way to class.

Ryan smiled and thought that, maybe, just maybe, the confusion of their friends had been worth it.


End file.
